Montemirabile Chapel, Renaissance chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Italy

The Montemirabile Chapel is the first side chapel in the left aisle of Santa Maria del Popolo, a windowless hexagonal space. Its walls carry painted Corinthian pilasters on a yellow background, decorated with tendrils, vases, flowers, animals, sphinxes and garlands, made by the workshop of Pinturicchio. The vault is painted plain white, and the keystone bears the escutcheon of Pope Sixtus IV within an egg and dart moulding.

Bishop Giovanni Montemirabile commissioned this chapel in the 1470s as a confidant of Pope Sixtus IV, making it an early example of Renaissance chapel design. Over time, important tombs were placed inside, including that of Cardinal Antoniotto Pallavicini, which was moved from the old St Peter's Basilica.

The chapel bears the name of its founder, Bishop Giovanni Montemirabile, and visitors today encounter it primarily through its carefully decorated interior walls. You can see painted pilasters and animal and flower ornaments that give the space a distinct character.

This small chapel sits on the left side of the aisle in Santa Maria del Popolo and is open during the church's regular hours. Because it is a narrow, enclosed space, give your eyes a moment to adjust to the softer light before examining the details.

The 15th-century marble parapet at the chapel entrance is considered the finest in the basilica, and its inner face is carved too, with an antique wine jug and palm branch crossed beneath a festoon of olive leaves. The two sides differ in small ways: the left wreath holds acorns, wheat ears and poppy pods, the right one flowers.